Ten thousand people lost their jobs in SA’s engineering sector in the past six years – an average of five employees a day.
The National Employers’ Association of SA (Neasa) says poor economic conditions and unaffordable wage rates have cut membership in the engineering sector to 1,500 firms employing 55,000 workers.
This is down from 1,800 businesses employing 65,000 people six years ago.
There have been more job losses this year, with steel maker ArcellorMittal SA (AMSA) announcing it was shutting down, resulting in 3,500 people becoming unemployed.
Tyre producer Goodyear’s closure in June led to the loss of 900 jobs.
The Ford Motor Company of SA has also announced plans to cut 474 jobs at two of its plants – 391 operator positions at the Silverton assembly plant in Pretoria, 73 at the Struandale engine plant in Gqeberha, and 10 administrative roles at both facilities, according to the employment and labour department.
“This decline can be attributed to poor economic conditions, unaffordable wage rates and high input costs such as high steel prices and electricity,” said Neasa’s national manager, Jaco Swart.
Another 3,000 employees at Glencore Operations SA face job cuts after the company issued two Section 189 notices at its Rhovan mine and head office.
Swart said the association has been in contact with numerous businesses that have indicated that they have had to reduce their number of employees or close down completely due to their “inability to compete with imports of finished products which attract no duty, while duties are imposed on steel imports”.
Glencore employees said they were facing difficult times as they did not know if they would still be employed at the end of the Section 189 notices, which serve as the formal start of the retrenchment process.
A 39-year-old woman who has been working for the company for 11 years said she was anxious.
“We look after our families, but now with this notice, it raises a lot of questions about what we are going to do. Even if you stay behind, it doesn’t look like there is a future. Now we are all confused, but we are trying to stay positive,” she said.
The single mother of four said the father of her children was also employed by the company.
“We have all our eggs in one basket. There is no certainty for the future, and it needs major intervention from the government,” she said.
“The notice [to retrench] is causing a lot of divisions among us because everyone just wants to save their own jobs. People are saying they should be the ones to stay behind. The people affected mostly are the young generation.”
Another Glencore employee said: “Most of us are not marketable outside this company. Even if the company lets us go, it won’t be easy for many of us to find new employment. I spoke to my wife and my family, and they were in shock. I warned them to be prepared for something of this magnitude. I could see they were affected – they weren’t themselves.
“The medical benefits, for example, are a huge concern. I’ve told my wife many times that if I lose these benefits, I won’t be able to afford private healthcare. I feel aggrieved. I’m not happy. I’m not hopeful.”
Another employee said he was shocked the company was opting to retrench even while there are ongoing talks with unions. The 30-year-old man has been with Glencore for six years.
“We are parents and responsible for many mouths to feed. It [the announcement] is affecting me negatively and emotionally because it is going to lead to a financial burden.”
The father of two children, aged three and seven, said while he has not received a letter of retrenchment yet, he feared he would.
Swart said: “The dismissal of 3,500 employees, due to the closure of AMSA’s steel business, is concerning. Any job loss is a tragedy, but we cannot risk the survival of an entire sector simply to keep one actor alive.”
On Tuesday, the employment and labour minister Nomakhosazana Meth said the department has ongoing efforts with key stakeholders to mitigate job losses at AMSA.
She said R416.8m had been allocated from the Unemployment Insurance Fund under the temporary employer/employee relief scheme to support 2,982 employees at AMSA. However, the company was adamant about closing its operations.
Retrenchments an attack on workers - Vavi
The South African Federation of Trade Unions (Saftu) has described the planned retrenchments as an attack on workers, their families, and SA’s industrial future-
The union’s secretary-general, Zwelinzima Vavi, said the looming global trade war, fuelled by US President Donald Trump’s tariffs, threatened to worsen the crisis.
“The combined effect is a jobs bloodbath, community devastation and further erosion of our industrial base.” Riaan Visser, deputy general secretary for the mining, agriculture and chemicals sector at Solidarity, said South African workers were paying the price for the government’s policy mistakes and Eskom’s tariff explosion.
“Since 2008, electricity tariffs have increased – making the entire industry uncompetitive compared to countries where lower electricity costs and government support are the norm,” he said.
The National Union of Mineworkers national spokesperson, Livhuwani Mammburu, said the government needed to do something to protect the local steel industry and save jobs.
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